Pompano Fish Report 3 - April 2007

Well, yesterday’s fishing was almost a repeat of our last fishing..... except for more and bigger yellowtail, some hammerhead sharks, elk jerky, and chukar stew.

When discussing our fishing plans the night before, we decided that yellowtail was to be the target again..and we should get going about 15 minutes sooner (some take too long to drink their coffee, it seems..).

All went as planned in the pre-dawn and after making our usual bigeye baits, we boated north from Mulege while watching a beautiful sunrise.

We were figuring to fish the same spot we had a couple days ago, but then I spotted some birds working off to the east a ways and we swung over to check it out. Good thing we did, because we got into some good action right away.

There was a small school of good-sized tails working a baitball and the birds did their jobs by showing us where to cast our baits. My buddy, Two Dogs, caught the first one by casting the live bait near a boil...bang he was on and the fish gave him a very good fight..after which he brought to gaff a nice yellowtail of about 25-28 lbs.

We chased that school around a bit..tossing the baits and even some iron. It got a little slow so I tried trolling a live bait about 100 feet behind the wake. I had a taker who grabbed the bait and let it go..then grabbed it again...and let it go. Okay these fish were not being very aggressive so the next time I felt the bait being mouthed, I free-spooled a bunch of line out and gave it about a 10 count before just easing into gear and let the fish set the hook by itself....and BAM!...he was on!

Now the tail woke up and gave a good battle..peeling line up rapidly headed for the rocks below. He took line very quickly, but I got it back quickly too...as the ache in my left arm can attest to. You know the drill...pump and reel, pump and reel...then buzzzzzzzz....all that hard-earned line goes spinning off as the big tail takes another powerful plunge to the bottom. I finally tired him out after 4-5 runs and we gaffed him aboard. Now we had 2 in the box and still were not at our planned spot, but decided that we should not look a gift horse in the mouth. Although no action was visible on the surface we could see scattered fish on the sonar and started another slow troll with our live baits...no weights, just flylining them a good ways behind the boat.

Mi compadre gets another taker and it sets the hook firmly right off. This was another of the same school of fish...all about the same size and weight...and good fighers. He expertly brought it to my gaff and now we had 3...thinking this was a pretty good day already without even getting to our normal hole.

and then.....

We trolled some baits again and bingo!...got a double hookup right away. Then mine was off...really off...the line was bitten through and I lost the whole rig. Damn, a shark, but my partner is still on and battling his. I look out towards his line and then see a big dorsal fin and tail snaking along.. a shark. Sure enough he brings it in close enough for us to see that it is a nice 5-foot hammerhead, a beautiful creature. He has is hooked on the end of one hammer close to it’s eye, so we use great care in bringing it alongside close enough that I can cut the hook free without much injury...to either of us! The hammerhead has other ideas of course and doesn’t want any part of us..thrashing water into the boat with his efforts. One more pull close to the boat we do the job..safely releasing the hammerhead to join his buddies. These are really remarkable fish and worthwhile opponents.

Note: Do not try this at home!

Releasing even a small hammerhead requires caution.

Surprise at sea...

Every day at sea is full of surprises...and this was ours today. We spot an unusual large blob floating a few hundred yards ahead and decide to investigate. My imagination went into overdrive and I mentioned it looked like a WWII derelict floating mine. (Got to stop watching those old movies...) It could also be a dead whale, as we have spotted a few of those hulks over the years. We pull closer and find it to be... a new black water tank..ach, too bad....somebody has lost their pillar. We hope it finds it’s way to another home downstream. You just never know what you will find floating out there. (Can you say Jimmy Hoffa?)

Lunch break!

Well, we already have enough fine fish to call it a good day, so we decide to relax and go exploring out east and south. Maybe have some lunch and water the dogs. My partner is a great hunter and always can be counted on for some fine game snacks...and today it was elk jerky...and some chukar stew from our dinner last night. Umm.. good stuff...matched with a cold brew, it just doesn’t get any better than this..

Well trained boat dogs....and a not-so-well-trained yours truly

Our boat dogs are fine hunters and well-trained. They never beg for food and will not accept a treat unless given the right command. I am quite the opposite and you will lose the entire contents of your refrigerator if you are so foolish to offer...

Into the fish/bird boil again!

We see the bird cyclone from yesterday is still going on a few miles east of the mine at Point Conception, so we swing over to watch the fury..maybe take a few more photos.

It was the same as the time before...thousands of greenjacks trashing the bait and making the surface boil! We marveled at the bird action and variety of species present. The frigates were especially fun to watch as they came in one at a time to pluck minnows from a surface bait ball...forming up like a fighter squadron on a strafing run.

You got the feeling that if you fell overboard, you had best ‘protect the privates!’ The surface was indeed...boiling with feeding fish. You could see bits and pieces of bait sinking everywhere. An orgy in progress. I wish all fishermen and especially young kids could witness this event of nature...imagine their excitement.

End of this tale....

All in all, another great day at sea. Naturally we had to stop at the Jungle for a photo op and a couple of cold ones...and to get our stories straight about why we were so late getting home again.


The End.

Looks like ya'll had a real good day.Thanks for the pictures and the story. That dog has more self-control than me.Good luck with all.

nice job,great reports

Hamachi Kama?